What Every Mother Deserves
by Sir Heroden
Summary: Annabeth searches in vain for the perfect Mothers' Day gift, until her friends help her realise that she had it all along... (2 parts). Written in honour of the annul day for celebrating mothers!
1. Part 1

**AN: ****This story is dedicated to my mother- a wonderful woman that gave me a lot more than life. She may not be a goddess, but to me, she is worth a lot more than all the immortals added together.**

**Happy Mothers' Day! **

**.**

**What every mother deserves**

For one of the few times in her life, Annabeth was at a loss.

She was faced with a helpless dilemma. Mentally, she berated herself for this foolishness.

_You've been through two wars, faced Tartarus and killed hundreds of monsters, but you're panicking because it's Mother's Day tomorrow? _

But the truth of the matter was that she had no idea what to get her mom.

While she'd already bought silver owl earrings, the smart young demigod predicted that Athena probably had a whole room full of owl shaped jewellery from the hundreds of mothers' days she'd been through.

So what she needed to was something that her mother might give a second thought about- a present that the goddess could bring out hundreds of years later and remember her by. Of course, she hoped that she's still be around for a few more dozen mothers' days, but as the first one after the Giant War, she wanted this year's present to be extra special.

Desperate, she even asked for help from Seaweed Brain. He seemed have won Poseidon's favour completely (she once even found them fishing on the camp beach together) and so Annabeth was eager to learn about his… proficiency… at impressing immortals.

Unfortunately, he wasn't much help and spent most of the time ogling at her.

Annabeth really wasn't in the mood for romance then, so she kicked the protesting boy out of her cabin and went back to looking for the perfect present.

What was something that would impress her mother? Despite it being a difficult feat, it wasn't impossible. After all, many inventors had done so over the ages. She just needed to think outside the box.

Or maybe she just needed some fresh air.

.oOo.

As she ambled along aimlessly, Annabeth nodded her pleasure at the newly designed camp. In the early morning, the camp was buzzing with even more activity than normal with such an important date coming up.

Voices drifted out of open doors, and many campers hurried about, greeting each other with cheerful voices. A few gave her waves.

A girl carried a shiny shovel out of the Hephaestus cabin. The gardening tool had a ridiculously large bowtie around the handle. It may have looked ordinary, but she had learnt the hard way to not underestimate anything made by the children of the god of the forge. She wouldn't be surprised if the shovel also served as a flamethrower or something.

The girl looked so pleased with her 'decorated' shovel that Annabeth deduced that her mother was most likely Demeter. She chuckled at the thought of Demeter wielding a frame throwing shovel.

In the grassy lawn at the centre of the camp was a familiar middle-aged man writing furiously on a clipboard.

"Hello Annabeth," the man grinned at her.

She realised why he was so familiar, "Lord Hermes? Hello!"

Annoyed hissing came from his pen. "And hello to you both, George and Martha."

_Hi! Hello! Have you brought rats? George! _

The architect of Olympus couldn't help but grin and the god laughed good-naturedly.

"So what brings you to Camp, my lord?"

"Mothers' day deliveries," Hermes beamed, "There so many! My company is making a roaring profit. The Iris girls got some real nice crystals for their mom, you know? And the Aphrodite ones- pah! I nearly died from over-inhalation of perfume."

Annabeth started to panic. Even the normally feather-headed children of the love goddess had got something satisfactory for their mother. She realised she had missed what Hermes just said.

"Pardon?"

"I said- have you got a big surprise planned for Athena?"

"I…" She hesitated, "Not really."

The god of messengers looked sympathetic, "Ah, well- I'm sure you'll figure something out!" The wings on his boots fluttered happily.

Something occurred to her, "Lord Hermes?"

He looked up from the clipboard again, "Yep?"

"Do the gods have some kind of celebration on Olympus for Mothers' Day?"

Hermes sobered up, "Yeah, we do. Hera insists on playing mom to us all. We all hate it. It's really just a time for her to prance around and for the othergoddesses to show off their presents. Why?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. Thanks."

"You're afraid of embarrassing your mother, aren't you?"

The god dropped a warm hand on her shoulder, "I don't know if it's the same for mothers, but for us fathers, it's the thought that counts. Sure, you can't compare thoughts, but it means a lot more than some fancy gift."

He opened mouth to say more, but his pen buzzed suddenly.

"Ah- got to go. Lots of deliveries to make today!" He gave her a wink, "Good luck, Annabeth."

.oOo.

As she continued on her way, and turned past the water fountain to the other wing of cabins, someone ran into her. "Leo!"

"Whoops, Annabeth! I'm so sorry."

The daughter of Athena briefly wondered about asking for some help in thinking of a present for her mother, but then decided against it. There was no need for her to remind him of his painful past.

"So… What have you been up to lately?" She said instead.

"I made this great invention, you wanna see?" The part-time inventor pulled out a sphere shaped thing from one of his many pockets. "Isn't it awesome?"

"Uh… What is it?"

"It's a warning device!" Leo explained eagerly, "You pre-program it, so that when certain creatures, for example giants, are nearby, it will emit a loud scream to warn you!"

Annabeth pretended that she didn't notice the obvious fault of the invention. "Wow… that's great!"

There was an awkward silence. Annabeth scoured her brain for something else to say. Leo's eager look slowly deflated.

Suddenly he sighed and sat down on the edge of the fountain. "Don't pretend. I know it's a useless invention. If the user can hear it, then the monster can hear it too." He looked so miserable Annabeth wanted to reassure him with a white lie, but then she decided against it- Leo was smart enough to be able to recognise insincerity.

The son of Hephaestus moved his head side to side slowly, "Who am I kidding? No amount of inventing is going to distract me from missing her. I miss her so much."

"…Your mother?"

"Yeah," he turned to her and his eyes were clouded with grief, "I really wish that we had more time together."

His shoulders started to shake, "It's not fair. It's so not fair."

The daughter of Athena wrapped a hand around his shaking body and the two of them sat there silently until the sun was high in the sky.

.oOo.

The Hunters of Artemis were in camp for another 'friendly' game of capture the flag later in the week and so the next person she saw was Thalia.

"Hey Annabeth!"

"Hello Thals!"

"I've told you so many times I don't like that name. Seriously…" Thalia was still sporting her punk hair style and looked like a rebellious teenager more than as ever. Once again, Annabeth wondered how she and her brother could be so different.

The lieutenant of Artemis started to talk again. "So, what's all the fuss with mothers' day?"

The question caught her off guard, "What do you mean?"

"I said- what's all the fuss about mothers' day? I don't get it. My mother was a jerk, I'm so glad I got away from her when I could. All this celebration and excitement is putting me off."

She was surprised at the venom in her friend's voice, "But surely you wish…"

"No." Thalia placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her seriously, "I hated her, and I still do."

The daughter of Athena had wanted to ask her a bit more, but angry shouting sounded from the basketball courts.

Thalia gave her a shove, "Let's go check it out."

.oOo.

It turned out that a group of Ares' children was a fighting with the Hunters of Artemis over the validity of the scores after a game.

"What's going on?" Thalia demanded. She singled out what appeared to be the lead girl and moved towards her in quick angry steps. "Did you start this?"

"No! They started it! We were-"

The daughter of Zeus was so angry that sparks started to fly off her hands, "I don't care whose fault it was!" The other girl backed away, "If you can't play together nicely, then don't! Get back to the cabin!"

She nodded to the Annabeth and shooed her hunters away from the scene.

The children of the war god proceeded to make hooting noises at the girls' retreating backs. Annabeth was about to step in when a loud voice stopped her in her tracks and shut the basket ballers up so quickly that some of them must have bitten down on their tongues.

"WHAT THE _HELL_ IS GOING ON HERE?" Clarisse stomped over to her cabin mates, "WHO'S BEEN CAUSING TROUBLE?"

An older boy in the group tried to shift the blame, "It wasn't our fault-"

"DID I ASK YOU TO SPEAK?"

"No, but-"

"THEN WHY DID YOU SPEAK? NO DINNER FOR YOU TONIGHT!" she swung to face the rest of the cowering basket ballers, "The rest of you get back to the cabin- NOW!"

Annabeth was impressed at her friend's amazing problem solving skills. She caught up to Clarisse as she marched angrily behind her shamed cabin mates.

A sudden thought struck her; surely the other girl's mother had been a soldier to capture the eye of Ares. Athena was the goddess of warfare… so their mothers may possibly like similar things.

"Hey?"

"Yeah?" the big girl looked almost curious.

"What you getting for your mother?"

She sensed an immediate change. The sulking and complaining boys in front of them were suddenly quiet. Annabeth realised that she may be possibly asked a bad question.

Clarisse turned to face her slowly, "My mother is dead." And when Annabeth opened her mouth to give an apology, she held up a hand, "You didn't know before, so it's fine. Don't mention it again."

She left her standing in the middle of the path without another word.

.oOo.

It was after another several hours of thinking inside her cabin that she decided to have walk.

The camp was quieter now. Once in a while, laughter drifted from lit windows, but other than that, it was completely silent, in a peaceful kind of way. Crickets chirped in the bushes.

The torches cast a warm, homey feel on the camp.

A four camper night patrol passed and greeted her. She kept walking.

For some reason she hesitated in front of the Hades' cabin. It occurred to her that they hadn't seen Nico for a while now, but then again, he was probably busy doing paperwork of his father in the Underworld.

She had meant to move on when a loud crash resonated from inside. Being the responsible person she was, Annabeth went and knocked on the door.

"Nico? Are you there?"

Another crash sounded along with some cursing. "Yes, I am! Wait… I'm coming."

A moment later, Nico answered the door, dressed neatly in a black shirt and dress pants. The exterior of his cabin was well lit.

"Annabeth, how can I help you?"

She raised an eyebrow at a few chairs scatter near the fireplace inside, "Did you just get back from work?"

"Yes. Don't you worry about me, just messed up my shadow travelling a bit and knocked over some chairs," he guessed with she was thinking and gave a lopsided grin to prove that he was fine.

Annabeth wasn't convinced for two reasons. Firstly, his breath reeked of alcohol. And secondly, a normal Nico would not _grin_ at anyone.

"You've been drinking again." She stated.

Now the daughter of Athena was concerned- Nico only drank when he was upset or angry. In the first months after the Giant War, he'd nearly killed himself with the substance in an attempt to cope with the painful memories of the war and related events until Hazel and Percy managed persuaded him to stop, but even now, they knew he still drank alone in his cabin or in the New York City when he experienced particularly bad flashbacks of events in Tartarus.

The young man sighed, "I know what's I'm doing, Annabeth." He ran a hand through his hair, "Look- trust me when I say that I know my limits. Okay?"

"I believe you, Nico," she reassured him, "but… are you alright?"

The son of Hades' façade wavered, his hand gripped the door frame, "I'm absolutely fine."

Annabeth hesitated, not sure if her next question would make things better or worse. "Is it because it's Mothers' Day tomorrow, isn't it?"

"No."

"Nico…"

"Fine," he snapped, "Yes. Are you happy now?"

"Sorry, I-"

"Just leave it be, ok?" He turned to go back inside.

"She'd be proud to have you as her son." Annabeth had no idea where the words had come from, but now that she'd said then, she couldn't take them back.

The ghost king turned back to face her slowly. His eyes were filled with an intense sadness as he held her gaze, "I don't know about that. I wish I did… I wish I'd be able to remember what she was."

The young man offered a weak nod, "Good night, Annabeth. You have no idea how luck you are."

.oOo.

Annabeth hurried back to her cabin with her mind in a whirl. She had just discovered the perfect present for her mother.

After closing the door firmly, she turned on the light at her desk and got to work.

**.**

**.**

**Read on to find what her perfect present for Athena is going to be!**


	2. Part 2

**AN: The much anticipated 'perfect present'!**

**.**

**What every mother deserves (continued…)**

Athena sighed as she looked through the presents her children had given her this year. While she was touched as always, there was always some disappointment underlying the initial feeling of joy.

She didn't mean to be ungrateful, but after years of receiving dozens of owl shaped jewellery or weapons, she was beginning to be concerned by her children's lack of creativity.

As she carefully placed the small boxes of earrings and necklaces on the many shelves of one of her storerooms, the goddess briefly wondered why Annabeth had not sent her anything this year.

Could her daughter have forgotten? Surely not- the girl was too smart for that.

_Did I do something wrong then?_ The goddess of wisdom couldn't recall bring harm to that son of Poseidon this year.

She hummed curiously, racking her super intelligent brain for a possible reason. Nothing came up. Then she sighed- it wasn't wise to worry about these things. Love was Aphrodite's area of expertise.

As long as her children were smart enough to be alive, she was satisfied.

Athena bent down and gathered the large cardboard box that the presents had come in. She was about to call for an attendant to take them down to the godly recycling centre when she noticed an envelope at the bottom.

Curious, she picked up a the simple item and tipped out the contents.

It was a card.

As she read the first line, she clearly recognised Annabeth's writing. So the goddess of wisdom read on to the rhythm of her pounding heart.

.

_Dear Mom,_

_I wanted to make this year's present extra special, so I didn't get you any owl shaped jewellery or weapons as I predicted that you already own a whole room full of such presents._

_Mom, I talked to a few friends of mine today for gift ideas today and I soon realised something very important- I am so lucky to have you as a mother._

_It would be illogical for me to tell you that you're that best mother ever, because 'ever' would not be justified as long as the world still exists. (Sorry, I digress…)_

_The simple fact of the matter is that I'm so glad that I have you as my mom. As a goddess I can be reassured that you will be there always, watching over me for the rest of my life._

_I realised that many demigods hate or are hated by their mothers and some of them didn't even get the chance to get to know them. I shiver at the very thought of such a fate._

_I know that you're not the kind of mother to hold me in your arms and tell me how much you love me (like the feather-headed Aphrodite) but I know that you care for me, and express it in your own smart kind of way._

_Thank you, mom. For giving me a lot more than just life._

_Happy Mothers's Day. I love you._

_Annabeth._

_._

Athena sat back in her chair- spellbound by such a simple, genuine message of love. Then she smiled, "Thank you, my daughter. I love you too."

.oOo.

**Thanks! Reviews are not necessary, not would be much appreciated! **

**Don't forget to wish your mothers a Happy Mothers' Day!**


End file.
